The Church is not the building, it’s the people
Have you heard that quote recently? As the pandemic spread throughout the US, and churches began closing their doors, I started seeing this quote pop up everywhere. I saw it on social media, blog posts, heard pastors use it in sermons, and even heard podcasters discuss it. For the first time in our lifetime “church”, as we knew it and understood it, faced immense challenges and questions. This quote has been used as a reminder that “church”, in the end, is all about “the people”, which seemed to soften the reality that church communities have become entirely too dependent on their buildings and structures.
Broadly speaking, we equate “church” with a building. Yes, there are people in the building; but we rarely talk about our relationships with the people in the building. When we refer to “church” we talk about “going to church" or asking "how church went". The underlying assumption and belief is that church is something we go to (in a particular building), not something we simply are (the people).
The language we use really matters. It shapes and forms the way we relate to God and others. For instance, if we primarily view “church” as something we go to, then we can start compartmentalizing our spiritual lives. It isn’t altogether bad to associate a time and place with God! However, if it stops there, we can run the risk of constraining God to a building on Sunday mornings. To be clear, I don’t hear people outright saying, “I can only experience God on Sunday mornings at my church”. But what I do see is people living as though God is not with them Monday through Saturday.
John Wesley called this, “practical atheism”. An atheist does not believe in the existence of God; a practical atheist lives as though God doesn’t exist. This is the danger of associating “church” with a particular building and its events. This subtly implants the idea that God is “there” but not everywhere else.
John Wimber was the one who said, “The Church is not the building, it’s the people”. But did you know there is more to his quote? He went on to say…
“its not just the gathering, its also the scattering…”
What do you think Wimber meant by that? My hunch is that he was trying to push back against a predominant cultural narrative that viewed church as something static (going to a building), instead of a living organism that embodied all of life (work, family, hobbies, relationships, etc).
Jesus called twelve disciples to himself (and others) in order to develop a relationship with them, teach them about the Kingdom of God, share his heart with them, and ultimately to lay down his life for them. He did this not merely for them to hoard His love. He did this to send them out, so that they could share what they received from Him with others! “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (Jn. 20:21)… “Go and make disciples” (Mt. 28:19). They were called to be “sent people” who followed the risen Jesus in daily life.
The Church is meant to embody the gospel of Jesus Christ not only when it gathers, but in all of life. The people of God are to be a “light of the world” that “shines before others” (Mt. 5:14,16). This is to be an ordinary reality of the scattered Church.
Eugene Peterson captures the beauty of an ordinary life as God’s sent people…
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. (Romans 12:1-2, The Message)
99% of our time is spent as a scattered community. What difference would it make if we spent our time, as a gathered community, equipping one another to be a sent community? Would we view things differently? Change how we gathered?
So, the Church is both a gathered community of disciples that meets with the risen Jesus and a scattered community that follows Jesus in daily life.
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